9/11 families urge Trump to act against Saudi Arabia on 25th anniversary

Nearly 3,000 people lost their lives on September 11, 2001. Twenty-five years later, families of some of those lost marked the tragedy by calling out America's continued ties to Saudi Arabia.

During an event at the memorial in New York on Friday, at least two individuals criticized the Trump administration and previous presidencies for obscuring Saudi Arabia's connection to the terrorist attack.

Families Speak Out

Terry Strada, widow of 9/11 victim Tom Strada and national chair of 9/11 Families United, asked her husband rhetorically: "How can it be 25 years, and still we have no justice for the role that Saudi Arabia played in your murder?"

Her remarks drew spontaneous applause from the audience. (Trump was not in attendance, reportedly because he had been told he was not allowed to speak at the ceremony.)

"Yes, we finally made it into a court and have proved that the kingdom of Saudi Arabia fomented a rancid culture of anti-American terrorism around the globe and then sent its agents to support the radical Islamists hijackers so they could attack you and all of our loved ones," Strada continued.

"But, for 25 years, administration after administration, including leaders in front of us here today, chose to protect the Saudis instead of standing with the 9/11 families? They withheld evidence. They vetoed JASTA," Strada said, referring to a 2016 law that allowed U.S. citizens to sue foreign governments. "They broke promises, both public and private. It has been one betrayal after another. President Trump can still change that. Tell the Saudis to stop lying."

"Tell them that if they want to be friends with the USA, they cannot continue to deny all of this, all of the pain, all of the destruction that we have all been suffering through," she added.

Evidence of Saudi Involvement

Fifteen of the 19 hijackers who carried out the 9/11 attacks were Saudi citizens. Evidence that emerged in a lawsuit brought by survivors and their families against the Saudi government revealed in 2024 that some low-level Saudi officials had been in contact with the hijackers prior to the attack. Until that finding, U.S. presidential administrations had largely dismissed Saudi involvement. An FBI-CIA report released in 2005 by the Bush administration stated there was no evidence "the Saudi Government or members of the Saudi royal family knowingly provided support" for the attacks.

Another Family Member Speaks

The nephew of Lisa Marie Terry, another 9/11 victim, also urged Trump to act on the country's long-standing defense of Saudi Arabia.

"For 25 years, the deep state has hidden the truth about what happened that day, 25 years ago. President Trump: You're our last hope. Release the unredacted files that implicate Saudi Arabia while what's left of the victims' families are still alive to see it," he said.

Trump's Record on Saudi Arabia

Trump has done much to deepen America's dependence on Saudi Arabia, most notably a $1 trillion economic and defense agreement signed last year with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

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Trump at Pentagon: Pushes War with Iran

President Trump used his speech at the Pentagon on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the September 11 attacks to promote his war in the Middle East.

"[W]e salute the service members working right now to ensure the world's number one sponsor of terror, the Islamic Republic of Iran, will never, ever, have a nuclear weapon," Trump said to scattered applause.

Trump's comments came shortly after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also used the 9/11 memorial event to push war with Iran. "Over the past six months, we have laid waste to the world's most prolific state sponsor of terrorism," Hegseth said. "Our warriors have fought an Islamic theocracy that has wished us death for nearly half a century, that cheered on 9/11." (Iran officially condemned the attacks.)